My Grandson (age 11) were reading the Harry Potter books. He had a head start, & as he would finish a book he would loan it to me so I could read it. Something happened when we got to book #5. He was taking forever to finish it, so I started reading something else. That was months ago. Of course, I’ve seen all the movies more than once. Maybe I should just request it at the library, after I finish the current series I’m on, that is.

Yeah I’m glad i started to re-read thm. The only thing is I like the movies and have watched them alot. Different people say things in the books then in the movies! I was reading a part where in the movie Herminoie says it in the book its Seamus! I was like :O that isnt right.

TLE surprised me. I saw that it looked interesting from the description on Amazon, but I didn’t know until I started reading it that it’s by the lead researcher and creator of the Standford Prison Experiment who was also part of the legal proceedings for the Abu Ghraib incidence. The book starts with a detailed first-person account of the SPE. Very interesting!

Ended up starting The Tower, The Zoo & The Tortoise by Julia Stuart. So far I’m really enjoying it – it puts me in mind of Alexander McCall Smith in terms of characters and setup of plot. There is a precis at the beginning of the characters involved which amused me.

I just read The Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. It’s a detective fantasy set in ancient China so it goes great with tea. Hughart has a way with words…this was one of the funniest/saddest/most poignant books I’ve read in a log time.

I just finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It’s kinda like a cross between Harry Potter and the Narnia series except it’s extremely depressing and for adults. This was very well written in some ways and a bit lacking in others. At this point, I’m not sure I want to read the sequel only because I’m afraid it’s going to be all existentialist like this first one. Now I need something happy!

I enjoyed that book! It was very quirky, but the main thing I enjoyed about it was the unpredictability. I’m too good at knowing what will happen next when I’m reading (or watching movies), which does get old after awhile. So when crazy stuff happened during that book, it was both surprising & exciting for me. But a lot of terrible things did happen. I read the sequel…it continued the unpredictable & crazy mode, but I enjoyed it.

I also read The Magicians back in August, but haven’t read the sequel yet. I thought the book was very well written and certainly thought provoking. Grossman also did a good job keeping a looming sense of dreading going in the plot.

I was intrigued by your description, Mercuryhime, and tried The Magicians, but I couldn’t get into it. I gave up about one quarter of the way through it when I realized I didn’t care about any of the characters or really find the plot compelling. And that constant “looming sense of dread” got to me too. Maybe some other time I’ll try again, as I do like both HP & Narnia, and don’t mind a bit of darkness & existentialism.

Janefan, I think the book is badly marketed towards Narnia and Harry Potter fans. While Grossman is clearly playing off both series, The Magicians is not something that would appeal to those fanbases. There is a lot of darkness in that book, and it grows as the book reaches climax.